Next gen of bow hunters in SA

[JustinC]

This would be the the third year in a row now that I have hunted with this local family. The first year I hunted with the father who came with his oldest son. The son wasn't very confident and was, quite frankly, not very competent with his bow so the decision was made not to let him hunt until the following year once he had some more practice.

Last year, being more confident, I sat with his oldest son and this year, both son's were able to hunt with me.

Even though more confident on his first bow hunting excursion, the oldest son had an experience which could have effected the rest of his hunting career or put him off for good. He spined an Impala ram and was unfortunate to watch his suffering while trying to end it.

Luckily, the young man turned a bad experience from the previous hunt into a positive and managed a perfect shot on a nice Impala ewe this year.

And then the youngest, who shot his first ever animal two weeks prior with a rifle, took his 22" Impala with a crossbow this weekend. Quartering towards us, the arrow entered back of the shoulder but managed to nick the lung. After some tracking, we were able to end him.

I'm hoping to meet and hunt with his daughter next year...

 

[G Skinner]

Congrats. to all .....experiences can be both good and bad it's what we take away from them what is important . Best thing with Archery is practice , practice and practice . When you think you are good practice some more.
Glen

 

[bbjavelina]

Good decisions come from experience. Experience often come from poor decisions. It's a learning process.

It seems that you're working with them on that. My hat's off to you for that effort. Best of luck with it and to them.

Butch

 

[BRICKBURN]

Looks like they are on their way to a long hunting career.

 

[JustinC]

Looks like they are on their way to a long hunting career.

Should be "graduating" to Blue Wildebeest or Kudu next year... but will see how the Dad feels about that

 

[Petrus Geldenhuys]

Hooked for life

 

[kal]

Great stuff, I don't even want to think about all the stuff I had to learn the hard way (not to mention all the mestakes Ihave coming ). Thanks for sharing.

 

[Deleted member 15212]

if someone tells you they have never made a bad shot, then you know they are lying. haha

we have all made bad shots but as you state, its always best to learn from them!

 

[JustinC]

if someone tells you they have never made a bad shot, then you know they are lying. haha

we have all made bad shots but as you state, its always best to learn from them!

Very true and I'm always skeptical of those who say that they have never made a mistake because external and internal factors, including Adrenalin can do funny things to a person if not checked.

 

[gizmo]

Excellent and congrats on getting to mentor them!!! That's very cool. A old boss of mine once told me, I'll clean it up a bit, "If your not screwing up then your not trying". I've always remembered that and it's advice that's served me well. The kicker is learning from those mistakes. I think it's great that you have had the opportunity to help spark the passion for what we all love so much. My hat is off to you sir.

 

[JustinC]

Thanks Erik, appreciate the kind words!